Jett Williams, American Singer, songwriter. Honorary chairman Shenandoah Therapeutic Riding Center, Woodstock, Virginia, 1989-1992.
Background
Born Antha Belle Jett, she is the daughter of country music icon Hank Williams and Bobbie Jett, whose brief relationship with Hank Williams occurred between his two marriages. She is a posthumous child. Her birth on January 6, 1953, in Montgomery, Alabama occurred five days after her father's death on January 1.
Education
Bachelor of Science, U. Alabama, 1975.
Career
She was legally adopted by Hank Williams' mother, Lillian Stone, in December 1954, who renamed her Catherine Yvonne Stone. After Lillian died in 1955, the young Cathy was made a ward of the state of Alabama and subsequently adopted by parents who renamed her Cathy Louise Deupree. Her older half brother, country music singer Hank Williams, Jr. was reportedly very slow to accept her as kin.
In September 1984, she met and retained Washington, D.C. investigative attorney Keith Adkinson to help her. Within days, he had a copy of the custody contract, and within months had conclusive proof Jett was defrauded for the financial gain of others. A lawsuit was filed based on this discovery.
Adkinson died June 19, 2013. In 1985, the Alabama State Court ruled she was the daughter of Hank Williams. On October 26, 1987, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled she was entitled to her half-share in the Williams estate, as she had been the victim of fraud and judicial error.
Hank Williams, Jr. appealed the case in federal court, but the ruling stood when the United States Supreme Court refused to hear the case in 1990. In 1990, she published her autobiography Ain't Nothin' as Sweet as My Baby. In 2000, the Tennessee legislature passed HJR 621 designating May 18, 2000 as "Jett Williams Appreciation Day" in Macon County.
The court rejected claims made by Polygram Records and Legacy Entertainment in releasing recordings Williams made for the "Mother's Best Flour Show", a program that originally aired on WSM. The recordings, which Legacy Entertainment acquired in 1997, include live versions of Williams' hits and covers of other songs. Polygram contended Williams' contract with MGM Records, which Polygram now owns, gave them rights to release the radio recordings. In October 2008, a selection of the "Mother's Best" recordings were released by Time-Life as Hank Williams: The Unreleased Recordings.
Williams toured with the current touring version of the Drifting Cowboys to sing her father's songs.
Membership
Honorary chairman Shenandoah Therapeutic Riding Center, Woodstock, Virginia, 1989-1992.
Interests
Avocations: motorcycles, old cars, fishing, gun collecting and shooting, classic motor yachts.